A passion for running and love of family have propelled Nicole Pizzi over the finish lines of eight 26-mile marathons in seven states from Vermont to Arizona.

She plans to make Boston her ninth finish after two previous attempts.

In 2012, the oppressive heat stopped her in her tracks at the 16-mile mark.

In 2013, it was unspeakable violence.

Pizzi, an Easton native, was at the 14-mile mark in last yearís ill-fated Boston Marathon when she paused to greet her father who was cheering her on from the sidelines.

Those precious family moments slowed down her run and put her a half-mile out from her projected finish.

She was at the 25.5-mile mark when her cell phone rang.

It was her mother. She had been standing next to a spectator who was wounded by one of the blasts and she was in a panic.

"All I could hear was screaming," Pizzi recalled.

A year later, she still doesnít know what her mother told her in the phone message.

"I havenít worked up the courage to listen to it yet," she said.

But, like most 2013 Boston Marathon runners, Pizzi is returning to Hopkinton this year for a determined third try.

She is also vowing to dedicate every run she takes part in to raising money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in honor of her grandmother Carol Areni of Dedham.

Areni was successfully treated for throat cancer at the hospital in 1989 before Pizzi was born. She recently returned to Dana-Farber after a second cancer diagnosis.

Pizzi says her donations are earmarked for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research that funds the brightest crop of scientists.

"They saved her life and Iím very thankful. I got to meet her and I have her here today," she says of the staff at Dana-Farber. "I am running so that they can continue their search for a cure, and so that others may have more time with their loved ones."

The 21-year-old started running while she was a senior at Oliver Ames High School and wanted to be physically fit and mentally alert.

She has just finished her undergraduate degree at UMass Dartmouth, graduating a semester early with a degree in organizational leadership.

She will celebrate her 22nd birthday on April 21, the date of the Boston Marathon.

She wants to run a marathon in each of the 50 states and is "extremely determined" to run the Boston Marathon every year until she no longer has the endurance.

"And I will always run for Dana-Farber," she says.

Pizzi is asking for the public to donate in honor of, or in memory of, a loved one stricken by cancer.

Page 2 of 2 - She raised $5,000 last year. This year her team contribution is $8,500. She has a long way to go.

To donate by check, make the check payable to "Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge" and mail it to: Nicole Pizzi, 310 Purchase St., South Easton, 02375.

To donate to Pizziís run online, go to her Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team website for Dana-Farber at